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By Blood And Water
The True Story and Meaning of
Christian Baptism
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]
[Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]
PART 5 - Apostles’ Baptism: The Commission
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in[to] the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28
16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Mark 16
XXII. Keys to the Commission: Discipleship—Baptism—The Name
Anchored in baptism’s development from John forward, we come to a qualified place for appreciating the role and meaning of the Lord’s commission as it relates to forgiveness, salvation and new birth.
We now know that the Lord’s “new” directive to baptize does not arise spontaneously from what He has just accomplished on the cross. It derives from the disciples’ own “practice ministry” under Him inherited from John. This fresh commission now caps everything they have been trained in for four years. It says, “You know what you were trained to do and where it came from as My apprentices. Now go do it as My Apostles!”
It has possibly been only a few weeks or months since the disciples-turned-apostles have been “shadow baptizing,” proclaiming repentance, forgiveness and discipleship. Having now come through the great ordeal of the crucifixion, Messiah commands them in effect to pick up where they left off.
Save for two adjustments in application, everything Christ speaks to—making disciples, baptizing, believing, salvation and the relationship between these ideas—is already well-grounded in the Apostles’ minds. But what to this time has been a shadow of His Real Baptism from the cross is to now become—not a component of that Reality but—its reflection in the flesh.
Because Apostles Baptism is derived from the shadow of John’s baptism and not the Reality of Messiah’s baptism from the cross, it is of the same substance and nature as the shadow. It is still an image of the Reality. The only difference is that the image now falls in time after the Reality instead of before it. Therefore, it is no longer a shadow, but a reflection.
The key words in this commission are “make disciples,” “baptizing” and “in[to] the name.” The connection between baptism and the other terms will confirm to us the image nature of the newly recommissioned baptizing ministry.
XXIII. New Application: The Name for all Nations
There are two changes in this fresh commission that distinguish it from what the disciples had received from John and practiced under the Lord.
First, due to the Lord’s imminent departure, the apostles are now to conduct baptism in His name.
From the first, baptism’s purpose was to point out—to identify—the Messiah, and then make identification with Him. Under John, baptism pointed to someone who was still coming and then finally appeared. Under the disciples, baptism pointed to someone Who was physically among them. But now, after the resurrection, the Messiah is ready to depart. How is baptism to point to Him?
In His absence, the Lord ordains the apostles to make His Name the center point of their message. The same offer of the kingly priesthood is to continue. But now they are to offer it through faith in His Name. They are to make disciples around His Name. And they are to establish the visibility of that discipleship through baptizing—in His Name. The Lord’s Name becomes the all-important object of faith in place of His physical presence.
Second, the apostles are to make disciples from among all peoples of the earth. They are to carry the baptism-of-repentance-for-forgiveness-of-sins-through-His-Name to all nations.
Originally, John borrowed baptism from the gentile conversion ceremony to signify the spiritual conversion of repentant expectant Jews. But now, disciple making is to be brought back to the converting of Gentiles as well as Jews. How interesting. Baptism is returning to its roots in Gentile conversion! Only now, it is to witness to their spiritual conversion to the Messiah, not their physical conversion to Judaism.
However, other than these two points, the Apostles’ baptizing retains all its original purpose and effect—to mark out prepared believers and followers of Messiah. The Lord adds here no “supernatural power” to baptism that it didn’t have before the cross.
XXIV. “Make Disciples”
In issuing the commission to baptize, Jesus instructs the apostles to continue what they have been doing all along, which is to make disciples. They are to establish a clearly identifiable followership of a new message that points to Him. The way they are to do this is the same way John did and which they have practiced ever since with Him—by baptizing. They are to use a familiar visible rite to witness to what is invisible.
By the time the Lord commissions the Apostles, His major theme has become discipleship, not just initial repentance, faith and forgiveness. Baptism adjusts with this shift to become weighted in terms of discipleship—the ongoing following of the Father—which the Lord Himself demonstrated at His own baptism from John.
So in the commission, baptism is associated, not with the making of mere believers, but with “making disciples.” Understanding discipleship then—not just faith—becomes key to understanding the commission to baptize.
- End-Salvation of the Soul
The specific association of baptism with discipleship provides us what we especially need for understanding the Lord’s further word about believing, baptizing, salvation and condemnation:
16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Mark 16
To understand this statement, we have to understand two things:
- the difference between “new birth” salvation and the “end-salvation” of the soul,
- the relationship between “end-salvation” of the soul and discipleship,
It’s critically important to know that from the Lord’s point of view, salvation occurs as a series of phases. It is not just a matter of initial spirit-saving faith, which is only the first phase of our salvation. It is also an ongoing process of soul salvation that results from the enduring faith of discipleship:
22 "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” Matthew 10
This statement comes from the Lord’s discourse on discipleship. He introduces us here to the end-salvation of the soul past the initial faith that saves our spirits, forgives our sins and gives us eternal life through spiritual rebirth. (See also Mt. 24:13; Heb. 10:39; I Cor. 1:18 [NAS]; Jms. 1:21; I Pt. 1:9. The concept of ongoing soul-salvation beyond initial spirit-salvation is a New Testament theme that receives almost no recognition in the modern church. But we must understand it to grasp the issue here.)
The commission to baptize is about induction into the life-long soul-saving process of discipleship. “Make disciples—baptizing them…” It is not about “making believers.” So when the Lord refers to salvation in the commission, He’s not talking about initial new birth and eternal life that comes through simple faith. His words “shall be saved” regard the end-salvation of the soul resulting from enduring discipleship. He’s talking about a dimension of salvation beyond initial spirit-salvation through believing.
Where He says here in the commission, “he that—is baptized shall be saved,” the Lord is restating in different words what He said in Matthew 10:22—
“the one who has endured—will be saved.”
The endurance of Matthew 10 is discipleship. The baptism of Mark 16 is metonymous for (ie, "stands for") discipleship. He is saying, “whoever believes and [becomes an enduring disciple] shall be [soul-]saved at the end.”
This is the same baptism of discipleship emulation to which He refers in saying, "…you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” (Mk. 10:38-39). He was not talking here about water. The Lord’s use of “baptism” for discipleship is consistent with His metonymous use of many other terms like “temple,” “fruit,” etc as mentioned before.
So too in the commission, He uses baptism interchangeably for that to which it bears witness—ie, discipleship. He’s saying that the one who undergoes the Mark 10:38 “baptism” of enduring discipleship shall be saved. [That Christ did not intend to say water baptism literally saves the spirit or soul is confirmed later by Paul’s denial of baptism as part of his commission—to be studied in Part 7.]
All told, in the single phrase “believe and be baptized,” the Lord is covering the fullness of two stages of salvation—initial spirit-saving faith and enduring soul-saving discipleship.
- Condemnation Without Baptism: Comparison and Contrast With Nicodemus
After the Lord explains the conditions for salvation, He then lays out the conditions for condemnation. Specifically, He says that those who don’t believe shall be condemned. Note however that he does not re-mention baptism relative to condemnation. Instead, he is reinforcing what he had said three years earlier to Nicodemus—that all men are already under condemnation:
18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3
We start out from a position of condemnation already because we do not believe in the Lord. Failure to become a disciple marked by baptism does not earn the Lord’s condemnation, ie, deny us the eternal life granted through faith alone. Unbelief alone condemns.
This statement from the Lord’s lecture to Nicodemus is a companion statement to his commission to the apostles. Comparing the two helps us understand the relationship of baptism to salvation. Both statements lay out the conditions of salvation and condemnation. But each is speaking to different stages of salvation. One includes baptism. The other does not.
Notice that to Nicodemus, Jesus is not speaking about “making disciples.” He is speaking only of the initial spirit-saving faith of new birth. Notice also that we find no reference to baptism at all regarding salvation: “He who believes in Him is not condemned.” Again, were baptism mandatory to new birth, Jesus could not have omitted this vital detail from his first statement. He would have had to tell Nicodemus (as He said in the commission):
18 He who believes in Him and is baptized is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3
But in the commission, Jesus is speaking to end-salvation of the soul produced by discipleship—which baptism represents. This is why He adds baptism representatively as a condition of salvation. (If this is not true, then Jesus was teaching two means of new birth salvation, one to His apostles that includes baptism, and one to Nicodemus without baptism. Untenable!)
The comparison and contrast between the words to Nicodemus and the commission give us a complete picture of the conditions of two-phase salvation. Like He said to Nicodemus, failure to believe—and this alone—finally condemns. Baptism or its lack has nothing to do with final condemnation. Like also he said to Nicodemus, His commission tells us we are saved by faith in Him into new birth.
But past what He told Nicodemus, His commission adds that discipleship (identified through baptism) works end-salvation of the soul. Failure to “be baptized with His baptism” into discipleship—while not condemning us—does deny us fulfilment of our destiny in Him. It denies us present assurance of eternal life. And it earns us the Father’s displeasure, disappointment and strong chastening. It brings about loss in the hereafter that we cannot calculate from this side of the veil:
24 …"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16
15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. I Corinthians 3
The Lord did not just want spirit-saved believers. He wanted soul-saved followers. He wanted to bring many mature sons to glory—sons formed into His image by running the complete course of discipleship laid out for them. Obedient followership alone, first signified by baptism, brings us to full soul salvation. It provides us the credible proof and assurance that we indeed have been born again.
Thus in this single statement, the Lord teaches us the clear parameters of spirit-salvation through faith, and soul-salvation through discipleship. Failure to believe condemns. But only obedience through discipleship—signified since John by baptism—brings us through to full sonship and soul-salvation.
- Salvation From “This Generation”
There remains one other application to salvation which the Lord intends by this commission. It is a narrow application, limited in time and scope to the Jewish people of His generation. There are definite but still limited saving effects of baptism that apply uniquely to “this generation.”
We will reserve discussion of this aspect for Part 7 where we look at the Apostles’ teaching regarding baptism—specifically Peter’s urgent exhortation linking baptism and salvation “from this generation” on the Day of Pentecost.
XXV. Cleansing and the Name
Of course, baptizing was not just to mark entrance into discipleship. Based in the Old Covenant, it was also to signify the inward cleansing by the Lord’s bodily water spilled at the cross. And it reflects the substitutionary cleansing He received for us when He submitted to John’s baptism.
It’s here that the Lord’s reference to baptizing in His Name now becomes critically important. For the actual cleansing of heart and the washing away of sin effected by His own baptism and crucifixion was now to be brought into force through the power of His Name.
As discussed earlier, water baptism in the Lord’s name paralleled the Real baptism into His Water through faith into His Name. While the apostles were water immersing a visible body of disciples around the Lord’s name, their word was saturating hearts into the water of His Name.
The Real baptism of faith “into” the Lord’s Name and the reflection of water baptism “in” the Lord’s name went hand in hand. The relationship between Faith baptism and its reflection in Apostles Baptism becomes more defined in the record of the apostles’ ministry, which we will see in Part 6.
XXVI. Summing the Keys to the Commission
In summary, the Lord’s triune reference to discipleship, baptism and His Name lays out the total purpose and significance of Apostles Baptism. Anchored between the concepts of discipleship and the Name, Apostles Baptism
1) testifies to and typifies the believer’s invisibly cleansed and reborn spirit identity by Faith baptism “into” the spiritual water of the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Implied but unspoken is baptism’s continuing witness to initial repentance begun with John.)
2) witnesses to the new believer’s commitment to the lifelong soul-saving race of discipleship-baptism.
3) establishes the Lord’s believers into a visibly identifiable corporate body of discipleship in His absence around [“in”] His name.
[In Part 6: Apostles' Baptism: The Demonstration]
Chris Anderson
New Meadow Neck, Rhode Island
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org4/04
Webmaster littleflock@netzero.net
Page updated September 6, 2005
